Dark Souls 3: Dragon-kin Mausoleum to Great Belfry

Take heart, Ashen One: if you can do this, you can do (nearly) anything.

Dark Souls 3: Dragon-kin Mausoleum to Great Belfry

This next area is a real trial. As soon as you step over the threshold of the doorway leading away from the bonfire, a cobra summoner will call in a generic NPC to battle you. Kill it if you like (and if you can), but the summoner will just call another one; you need to put it down fast.

All the other figures in this room are dead or statues, so the best plan is just to rush the summoner. If you head right as soon as you cross the doorway and run up the stairs, then take a hard right and follow the balcony around, you’ll see it ahead of you. If you’ve been fast enough, the NPC won’t find you and you can murder the summoner quickly.

With the summoner down, it’s just a matter of dealing with the one NPC. He’ll likely be standing on the balcony opposite; peer among the columns and statues to spot him. Put an arrow in him and run laps of the balcony area; if you’re opposite or kitty corner and run away from his direction of travel, he’ll give up before you’ve run two sides of the square. The first one of these you kill awards you a Dragoncrest Sword.

With that little fun time over we can explore this area in comfort. First things first, stand in front of the altar a short distance from the door to the bonfire and use the Path of the Dragon emote to receive the Calamity Ring, which is not a good time. Upstairs, collect a Soul of a Crestfallen Knight from one corner and activate the lift in the opposite corner for a shortcut back to below the Archdragon Peak bonfire.

Still on the upper balcony, go out a doorway on the opposite side of the room from the bonfire. You’re now overlooking the bridge and ledges you used when fighting the Ancient Wyvern. Collect the Titanite Scale and head through the arch and down the stairs on your left.

Just to the left as you step out of the stairs is a rock lizard. It’s not very scary, but watch out for its fire breath and rolling attack, which looks funny but hurts a lot. It’s pretty impervious to physical damage but magic or enchanted weapons will eat it up. What you really need to watch out for is rolling off the ledges as you fight it; lure it back inside for safety’s sake.

When the lizard is dead, grab the Titanite Scale from the landing it had occupied and continue down the stairs. The path leads you back inside the mausoleum at ground level, facing the altar. The door on your left just goes back to the Ancient Wyvern arena, so don’t worry about it; it’s a good place to start exploring the boss arena if you skipped the optional treasure hunt on the previous page, though.

Go upstairs and take note of the doorway leading to the ledge above the bonfire. There’re are two dragon hybrids just outside waiting to ambush you. Foil their plan by sniping one of them through the windows to lure him inside; yes, they can see you. The item just outside the door is a Titanite Scale.

Right! Let’s move on. Look around on the upper level until you see a grated gate. You can collect the Dragonslayer Spear through the grate. Facing this gate, turn right and take the stairs down.

You’ll spot two dragon hybrids with shields in the long corridor ahead. They’re really only the start of your problems so lure them out one by one. There’s another dragon hybrid in the second alcove on the left. Another two dragon hybrids are hiding among the columns on the left when the corridor opens up a little. Use an arrow to pull them one at a time. Before you move on, look down over the right side of the edge of the corridor, before the threshold to the room with the two baddies you just dispatched. There’s another dragon hybrid here you can snipe or lure comfortably.

When you step out through the next area as if to go around the corner, you’ll be rushed by a giant dragon hybrid from the left. It will chase you relentlessly so be ready to sprint all the way back to the altar room and use the balcony circling trick if you’re not comfortable fighting it toe to toe. You don’t even have to kill it; just get it round the other side then dash back to drop down to the stairs from the corner of the room along the bonfire room. Usually, the giant gets stuck at the gate and doesn’t make it home to his spot.

Before you continue down the path the giant dragon hybrid was guarding, walk out on the wooded scaffolding just before where he was standing and examine the stone pillar on the corner to find a ladder. Climb up to collect the Thunder Stoneplate Ring – very useful indeed.

Cross the very rickety-looking wooden bridge and spot the Crystal Lizard ahead. If you don’t smash it in this room it will usually lead you out onto a horrible ledge where two rock lizards will attack. (Sometimes it just runs over a ledge; infinitely preferable.) It has Twinkling Titanite.

In the room where you encounter the Crystal Lizard is a small round balcony with a chest on it. It’s real, and contains three Titanite Scales.

Your path continues through the area with two rock lizards, so be careful; lure them back into the previous room one by one and stand on the little ledge nar the window to baffle them. They can also be kicked off ledges.

Look ahead down the path. Ah yes, another wyvern! How delightful. It aggros as you approach and from then on makes a real nuisance of itself, flitting between the tower and its original perch whenever you get into range.

It has less armour than its friend the boss so you can melee it if you fancy, but if you have a good bow (preferably Black Bow of Pharis), a lot of arrows (preferably Feather Arrows) and an infinite pool of patience you can snipe it. Aggro it, then retreat to the room with the treasure chest. Sneak out and put an arrow in the wyvern so it flies back to its original perch. Advance along the path to just before the tree and you can hit it in the head, doing okay-ish damage. Just rinse and repeat your aggro and retreat pattern if you step too far; you’ll soon find the right spot. Aim for the closest part of its head. When you do enough damage it will fly down in front of the little window (which you should roll through to make your escape) and refuse to move. But this is actually a good thing! If you stand in the doorway to the exit and shoot through the window you can just hit it, doing double the damage as you did at distance. Gosh! We’ll be home by Christmas.

The wyvern drops six Titanite Chunks, three Titanite Scales and three twinkling Titanite. When it is gone you can safely collect the Soul of a Weary Warrior from the window if you haven’t already, you mad, rash fool.

Be careful as you advance. Four rock lizards await on the stairs just past the wyvern’s perch, including one that surprises you from the left.

Continue to advance cautiously and pause when you reach a short set of steps down with a bell altar or something on your left. Through the door to your right is a cobra summoner. Snipe the heck out of it before it can call in any NPCs. Make your way around the area, pausing to Praise the Sun in the god rays from the crack in the ceiling (it doesn’t do anything, but it’s very good for your poor nerves).

As you proceed through the next area you’ll see a giant bell on your left with a huge lever. Do not ring this bell. We will ring this bell later. Ringing this bell now is a mistake you will come to regret. Why not run through to the next room instead, and light The Great Belfry bonfire? Yes, much better. An no, you should definitely not go ring the bell just for funsies now that you are safe! If you do you’ll be locked away from the next area until you beat the boss.